FARNBOROUGH, United Kingdom. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI), officials announced that its company-owned Predator C Avenger unmanned aircraft system (UAS) received a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-issued Experimental Certificate (EC), enabling it to perform routine operations in the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS). The announcement was made this week at the Farnborough International Air Show.

SAN DIEGO. Raytheon Deutschland GmbH and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI) engineers will integrate the Advanced Radar Detection System (ARDS) – an Electronic Support Measure (ESM) system for passive radar monitoring – on a standard pod that will be mounted on the centerline hard point of GA-ASI’s unmanned aerial system (UAS), the Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper.

TEWKSBURY, Mass. U.S. Navy officials at the Pacific Missile Range testing facility in Hawaii received Raytheon’s AN/SPY-6(V) Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) array, which is now in preparation for live target testing in early July.

GROTON, Conn. U.S. Navy officials modified an existing contract with General Dynamics Electric Boat - a subsidiary of General Dynamics - to continue to develop the Virginia Payload Module (VPM). The contract's estimated value is $116 million.

SAN DIEGO. Cubic's business division, Cubic Mission Solutions (CMS), will provide the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Systems Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Pacific command with switchable Common Data Link (CDL) split Above and Below Decks radio systems to support sustainment of the AN/USQ-167 Common Data Link System (CDLS).

PALO ALTO, Calif. The Microsystems Technology Office of the Defense at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) selected the Microwave Power Products Division of Communications & Power Industries LLC (CPI) for the first phase of the High Power Amplifier Using Vacuum Electronics for Overmatch Capability (HAVOC) program to research revolutionary approaches to vacuum electronics.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. Boeing’s Collaborative Autonomous Systems Laboratory officially opened to focus on developing, maturing, and validating autonomous and multi-vehicle collaboration technologies. Researchers will test next-generation hardware and software of autonomous air, sea, and land vehicles in order to have them work more effectively as a team.

WALTHAM, Mass. Thales and Raytheon officials restructured their joint venture company, ThalesRaytheonSystems, to focus only on NATO agencies and NATO member nations for delivery of the Command and Control System, Theatre Missile Defense, and Ballistic Missile Defense (ACCS).